


Don't Let the Stars Get You Down

by Olsies



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Ace!Sam Winchester, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, College AU, First Dates, Fluff, Genderfluid Character, M/M, Non-Binary Castiel, ace!sam, genderfluid!cas, sex repulsed!cas, some gender dysphoria
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-25
Updated: 2015-05-25
Packaged: 2018-04-01 03:17:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4003804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Olsies/pseuds/Olsies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cas and their best friend Charlie take a summer writing course and Cas meets a cute boy.</p><p>***</p><p>Or basically where I wanted a world where Cas and Charlie were best friends who took selfies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Let the Stars Get You Down

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to put out there that I'm genderfluid, but my fluidity is more non-binary/transmasculine/woman and I don't change my pronouns, but I know that some genderfluid people _do_ change pronouns, so I hope I didn't mess anything up too badly.
> 
> Unbeta'd so if I messed up pronouns, please let me know. Also, let me know if there's anything wrong with it in general.

Cas woke up with Charlie curled around him, and as he detangled himself from Charlie’s limbs, he _knew_ it was definitely a _him_ day. He yawned as he went to the bathroom, peed, and washed his hands before heading back to the couch where Charlie snored softly, her hair tangled in her face. Cas chuckled a little as he flopped next to her pulling her close. She snuffled into him, pulling him closer.

“Coffee?” She mumbled and Cas laughed a little.

“Loosen the death grip and you got it…” She groaned a little and let him go. Cas got up and wandered into the kitchen to assemble the coffee with his eyes half closed. A few minutes later, Gabriel, Cas’s brother, came in wearing sweats and a t-shirt.

“Morning Cassie,” Gabriel muttered as he opened the fridge to pull out the milk. Cas groaned a little and Gabriel looked up over the door of the fridge. “Cas day? Castiel?”

“Cas is fine…” Cas said as he stood waiting for the coffee to brew. Really if he had it his way, he would _always_ be Cas, but Gabriel insisted on calling him several derivatives of his birth name, not that he really minded being called _Castiel_ but it was what it was.

“Noted,” Gabriel said closing the fridge and grabbing the cereal from the top of the fridge. “There enough coffee for me to have a cup?” Cas nodded and pulled down three mugs. “You still really sleepy?” Cas nodded again. “What time did you get to sleep?” Cas shrugged. “What time is your class today?” Cas scratched the side of his nose and pulled out his phone to check.

“Not till two,” he grunted and poured the coffee. He handed one of the mugs to Gabriel before going to the living room where Charlie had sat up and turned on the TV, flipping straight to Nickelodeon. She took the coffee, smiling a little.

“Thank you,” she murmured. Cas nodded and sat next to her, yawning.

“Maybe an Avengers movie marathon the night before our first Creative writing class of the summer was a mistake,” Cas groaned as he pulled out his phone to check the time. It was 11:30. He groaned again. Charlie looked at her phone and hissed a little. They would have to be ready soon for the forty minute drive to the side campus where their class was.

“We better get moving,” she said getting up and heading to the door. “I’ll be back in an hour…” Cas groaned again, rolling his eyes as he got up and went to the bathroom to shower. Some days he wished he could grow his hair out, but days like this reminded him of how awful that would be, and he found himself grateful for his stubble. He showered quickly, and not to look in the mirror too long when he got out and washed away the residual eyeliner, feeling thankful he hadn’t let Charlie talk him into a manicure the night before. After putting the towel around his waist, he rushed to his room to find something to wear in the mountains of clothes. Eventually he settled on a t-shirt with Rick Grimes on it and some dark jeans he’d worn once but he was pretty sure they were fine.

By the time he got back downstairs, Charlie had let herself back in with bean burritos from Taco Bell.

“I thought it was my turn to pay…” Cas said sitting on the floor, pulling the bag towards him to get one and pick out some hot sauces. Charlie shrugged a little.

“I didn’t think we had time to fight about where to go, so I got this one…” Charlie mumbled through a mouthful of burrito. Cas shrugged back. After they ate, Cas got his things together, half wishing he had another notebook, but have not caring because he hated that rainbows and hearts had any sort of gendered aspect. He put on his basic black flipflops and went down to say bye to Gabriel before he took off with Charlie.

“Remember,” Cas said. “I have class till five twenty, so-”

“I _know_! Dinner will be waiting in one form or another… Don’t worry…” Gabriel said looking up from his laptop. “You nervous?” Cas nodded a little. “But you e-mailed the professor, right? Explained your gender?” Cas nodded again.

“Didn’t get a response yet, though…” Gabriel got up and pulled his brother into a tight hug. “It’s gonna be ok. And if it’s not, just say fuck it, and drop the course…” Cas clung for a moment before pulling back and rushing to the door.

“Thanks!” He called over his shoulder as he rushed after Charlie and they took off as soon as Cas was buckled in. They drove to campus as fast they could, music loud and Charlie talking nonstop about story ideas. Cas tried to focus on his breathing and not focus on the fact that he suddenly had zero story ideas. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Charlie looked over at him as they pulled into a half full parking lot.

“Why do you look like that? What are you thinking?” She asked as she parked and grabbed her bag. Cas shook his head a little.

“I can’t think of a single story to tell. Not one…” He managed as he fumbled with his own bag. Charlie squeezed his shoulder a little before getting out of the car.

“It’ll be ok. The whole point of this class is to expand and get new ideas, babe. Now hurry or we won’t have time to get iced coffees, and _you owe me_...” Cas climbed out of the car and rushed after her. They went to the Student Union coffee shop, Charlie periodically reaching out to touch Cas, talking about who Natasha Romanov _really should have gotten with_ and why.

They got to the classroom just as the professor showed up, and unlocked the door, smiling at all of them. He was wearing one of those corduroy jackets that had patches at the elbows, a button up shirt, jeans, and some dress shoes. He smiled at the twelve or so students that entered, many of them looking as nervous as Cas felt. Cas flopped next to Charlie, sucking down his coffee, wishing he was at home in bed. The professor put a leather bag on the front desk and turned to the students, smiling and didn’t talk until they all settled.

“If you’re in the right place, you’ll know this is Creative Writing 307, and I’m Dr. Chuck Shurley, but you can call me Chuck. He/him pronouns. I really enjoy teaching this course because I really look forward to reading what you all create. Some of you emailed me already with concerns about names, so I thought the first thing we could do was go around the room, say our names and pronouns, why we’re in this class, and a random fact about ourselves. Oh! And the random fact about me is that I’m published, although really, as a professor at any four year institution, that isn’t _that_ big a deal, but I do have several fiction books published, so if you’re interested in that sort of thing, I can help walk you through some of that…” He smiled and a few people smiled back. “Who wants to go first?” He looked around as everyone looked away. Charlie raised her hand and Chuck nodded at her.

“I’m Charlie Bradbury. She/her pronouns. I am in this class because I have all these ideas and I don’t know what to do with them. I was published in a few magazines in high school, but that was a couple of years ago so…” Chuck nodded, smiling and turned to Cas.

“I’m cas. I’m-” He swallowed and took a deep breath. “I’m genderfluid, and what that means to me is that my pronouns change a lot. I’ll try to let you know what they are day to day. I’m taking this class because I have been writing and telling stories for as long as I can remember…” He bit his lip ring, eyes staring at his back in his lap.

“Thank you for sharing that, Cas. And today your pronouns are?” Chuck asked gently.

“He/him,” Cas said looking up briefly, and then back down. Chuck thanked him again, nodded, and moved on. Cas looked around for curious or judging eyes, but the only one looking at him was a tall guy with floppy hair who smiled brightly at him as he opened his mouth to introduce himself.

“My name is Sam. Uh, he/him pronouns are fine. I uh… Traveled around a lot with my family as a kid, so I had more schools than I can begin to remember. When I was in like the sixth grade, a teacher told me I wrote well, but no one has really looked at my fiction since, so…” He shrugged a little and Chuck thanked him.

“So basically, what I have planned for today is we will go over the syllabus, take a ten minute break, and then we’ll come back and do some in-class group work.” He turned and pulled out some syllabi and passed them out. By the time the break came around, Cas had to pee badly but Chuck asked to him hold back a minute. Charlie gave Cas a _look_ which he returned, and she left.

“I just wanted to say I got your e-mail about five minutes before class. Things have been- well, it doesn’t matter, and I apologize. Like I said when we were going over the syllabus in class, the best way to get ahold of me is to text me. If you _ever_ need anything, let me know. I’m not trans, but… Well… Just let me know if you need anything, ok?” Cas nodded, glancing towards the door, painfully aware of his bladder.

“Thanks, I will…” He mumbled before he bolted, trying to not care if it was rude or not. He brushed past Charlie, telling her to wait before disappearing into the nearest restroom to pee. Once done, he and Charlie wandered outside to sit on the steps in the hot sun for a few minutes to warm up from the too cool air conditioning inside.

“How are you doing?” Charlie asked as they sat on the front steps.

“Good. Jittery from all the coffee, but good…” He nodded as she put her arm around him.

“Selfie time!” Charlie shouted, pulling out her phone and Cas groaned a little, smiling and rolling his eyes. Charlie was _obsessed_ with selfies.

“We have to commemorate this moment! A teacher in a classroom just asked us all what our pronouns were!” Cas grinned a little wider and leaned in close while Charlie held the phone out, pushed the button, and pulled it closer to inspect it.

“That’s a good one,” Cas said gathering his things. Charlie nodded and posted it to Instagram before they both got up and went back in.

The second half of class was a little less exciting. They were split into groups of three and had to fill out a worksheet on what good writing looked like. After that they bainstormed story ideas and were assigned to come up with a short story in their groups of at least 200 words but no more than 2,000 due Friday. He let them out twenty minutes early.

“We probably won’t stay the full time most days, but I would seriously recommend not making any plans until _after_ 5:20, but… I hope you all have a good evening. Trade contact info. Friday will be here sooner than you think, and I won’t be giving any extensions on this assignment.” Everyone began talking at once. Cas looked at the other two in his group. One was a young woman named Meg with long black hair and a wide smile; the other was Sam.

“I think we should meet tomorrow at 9 to get going on this…” Meg said pulling out her phone. Cas nodded.

“We could meet at Village Inn…” Sam suggested, and Meg nodded a little.

“Sure…” Cas agreed. “Ultimate access to French fries…” Sam nodded.

“Exactly my thought.” They exchanged phone numbers and then Cas followed Charlie out to the car.

“Ugh, my group mates are so dull! They don’t want to write about anything cool…” Charlie complained as soon as they closed the doors.

“My group is meeting tomorrow at 9.” Charlie stifled a giggle. Cas rarely got out of bed before 10, and when he did he was a beast. “You’re so kind. I’ll just get there early and drink seven cups of coffee.” Charlie laughed a little, rubbing Cas’s head.

“It’ll be ok…” Charlie talked the rest of the ride home about random TV stuff Cas only half cared about. When she dropped him off, it was nearly 5:40 and Gabriel was just putting some fish sticks in the oven.

“Hey, kiddo… How did it go?” Gabriel pulled him into a tight hug. Cas told him. “Awesome! I’ve heard good things about Chuck! He’s pretty laid back…” Cas nodded a little.

“I’m gonna go start my reading…” He turned to head up to his room.

“I’ll come get you when dinner is ready,” Gabriel assured him.

***

Cas crawled out of bed at 8:15 the next morning rubbing her face with a sigh. She went to the bathroom, shaved her face, did her hair, and went to her bedroom to pull on some fresh clothes. She chose her favorite jean skirt and a red spaghetti strap shirt. She put on her sandals and drove to the Village Inn only to find Meg already there, toast and coffee ordered for all of them. She smiled up at Cas as the other woman sat.

“Hi. Is the coffee good?” Cas asked.

“It’s fresh… I love a ton of sugar and milk in mine, to be honest…” Meg said munching on some toast with strawberry jelly on it. Cas nodded a little before pouring herself some coffee. Meg swallowed and cleared her throat a little.

“So, yesterday you said you were genderfluid and-” Cas nearly choked on her toast, eager to answer.

“Right, yes,” she managed after several prolonged seconds of swallowing. “Today is a she/her day…” Meg nodded.

“Just didn’t want to assume,” she said as the waiter came over to them.

“Are you going to want anything else to eat or drink?” The waiter asked. Cas gaped a little. “Still need a few minutes?” Cas nodded. “Alright, I will be back in a few minutes…” He left and Cas picked up one of the menus, looking for the sides. Just as she put the menu down, Sam came over and sat down next to Cas.

“Hey…” He waved a little, picking up Cas’s discarded menu, immediately put it back down, and picked it back up again. Meg met Cas’s eye smiling and both of them tried to not giggle. Sam put the menu back down as the waiter came over.

“Can get you both anything else, or are you going to stick with toast and coffee?”

“I just want some scrambled eggs and bacon,” Cas said, looking over at Sam.

“And could just have a side of eggs, sausage, and fruit?” He asked.

“And how would you like your eggs?” The waiter asked.

“Uh, over easy is fine…” The waiter took the last of the menus and Sam poured himself some coffee. They worked and ate all morning, focusing on the assignment. Every once in a while Same would glance at Cas out of the corner of his eye before returning to work.

Meg got a call from her roommate at 12:30 needing a ride so they all decided it was a good place to stop as any. Cas waved at them after they paid and headed their seperate ways. Cas watched as Sam walked towards the road, away from the cars. Cas bit her lip and slammed her car door closed, chasing after him.

“Sam! Sam wait!” Sam turned and smiled at Cas. “Do you not have a car? Do you want a ride to campus?” Sam shrugged a little.

“I was just gonna take the bus to campus…” He said.

“I have to run back to my house, but I- I could give you a ride to campus if you want…” Sam bit his lip and adjusted his bag.

“Ok, but only because it is _fucking_ hot!” He said and followed Cas back to her car. They got in and sat in silence except for the radio. When they pulled up to the house, Cas looked at Sam and smiled a little.

“You can come in or stay,” she said. “I’ll only be a minute… Just have to go get a notebook I forgot.” Sam nodded a little.

“I can wait here…” He said.

“Be right back then,” she said, got out, and rushed up to her room to get her notebook. She stopped in the kitchen for two bags of mini cookies and a bottle of Snapple shoving it in her bag. As she approached the car, she watched Sam mouthing the words to “Party in the USA,” dancing a little, but blushed and looked down when he saw Cas coming back to the car.

“Don’t stop on my account,” she said turning the radio back up, singing loudly and off key. Sam smiled a little, mumbling the words under his breath just as the song ended. They fell silent as Cas drove them to campus, changing the station every thirty seconds trying to find a decent song. Eventually she settled on some crappy pop station.

“So what’s your major?” Sam asked after a while.

“I’m an art major…”

“Cool… I’m a sociology major, law minor,” Sam said.

“I’m an English minor, but I have taken a bunch of soc courses and really liked them…” They fell silent for a moment. “So why are you really taking this class?” Sam blushed and laughed a little.

“I needed an upper division outside my major or minor and… I don’t know. I was always pretty good at writing.” He shrugged, blushing.

“That’s cool…” Cas smiled at him a little.

“Why are you taking it?” Sam asked after another pause as they pulled into the parking lot. Cas shrugged a little.

“I’ve always written stories,” she said, shrugging as she parked and turned off the car. They opened their doors and got out. “My friend Charlie and I usually go get coffee from the Student Union before class… Do you want to come?” Sam smiled and shook his head, no.

“I shouldn’t have any more coffee…” Sam said.

“Same… Maybe I’ll get a tea… Well, see you in class, then…” She waved and turned to walk up to the Student Union.

“Bye…” Sam called and Cas turned and winked at him, smiling.

***

Over the next few days, Cas’s gender changed a lot, but no one in the class really commented on it, although other than Meg, Charlie, Sam, and Chuck, no one really interacted with Cas, which honestly they didn’t really mind that. Cas really liked the class even though he wasn’t sure she would because often people felt uncomfortable around her, but they had a good group to work with, and Chuck’s support made going to class much less of an ordeal than most. The assignments were just OK, but Meg was awesome, and Sam was a sweet lanky boy from Kansas who blushed every time Cas smiled at him. He almost always refused rides, but worked hard and his smile was completely infectious.

Everything about the class was going really well until the Thursday Cas woke up feeling off. He got up and went to his dresser, looking through his clothes to find something to wear. He dug through everything but all he wanted to wear was his mini skirt which was problematic not because he thought boys couldn’t wear skirts but because wearing a skirt meant he would be misgendered even more than normal. He flopped on his bed and pulled his blankets over his head not ready to deal with this. Eventually Sam texted him.

**To: Hey, are you coming to the library?**

Cas groaned and shoved his face further under the pillows. A little while later, Charlie texted him.

 **To: I just ran into Sam and Meg at the library. Are you ok? You should at least tell them you’re alive.**  
**Sent: I can’t move.**  
**Received: Do you need me to come?** **Sent: Please.**

Thirty minutes later, Charlie met Cas on the front porch, Cas wrapped in a blanket and drinking the coffee Charlie brought him.

“They’re not going to understand…” Cas said after he explained the issue.

“Who? Sam and Meg? Chuck?” Cas grunted a little. “Cas, I can’t begin to understand… but I can say you should _at least_ try to tell Sam and Meg what’s going on since you’re obviously _not_ going to class.

“I have to go. We are sharing our stories today…” Charlie rubbed his back a little.

“Well then, you better go shower and get dressed. We have to leave in an hour…” Cas nodded a little, got up, and went upstairs. He pulled out his phone and texted Sam.

**Sent: Hey sorry, just woke up. Slept through my alarm. Be there in about an hour.**

He got in the shower, washed his hair and body as quickly as possible, and then went to his bedroom to put on his clothes and checked on his phone. Sam had responded.

**Received: Ok.**

Cas swallowed hard and tried to push back his panic. After he put his clothes on, he grabbed his make up and put it on quickly, fixing his hair with some small clippies, sighed, and looked at himself and nodded. The bright blue miniskirt went well with his button up light flowery shirt and green flats. He looked _good_! He went downstairs, grabbed a bagel, a knife, and the peanut butter.

“Let’s go…” He said grabbing his bag and heading to the door.

By the time they got to campus, Cas was counting down the seconds until he could go home. He rushed into the library and found Sam and Meg who were packing up to go to class.

“Hey,” he said, biting his lip piercing.

“Hey…” Sam smiled and some of the tension eased from Cas’s chest. “You look really nice.”

“So glad you could join us,” Meg said coldly, not looking up. Cas swallowed hard.

“Yeah, sorry… I just-”

“It’s fine,” Meg said brushing past him. Cas took a deep breath, and held it.

“We made you note cards about what you should say…” Sam handed him some index cards and Cas took another deep breath. “Come on, it’ll be ok…” Sam put his wide hand on Cas’s back, pushing him after Meg. By the time they got to class, Cas wished he’d stayed home. Meg barely looked at him and he just wanted to crawl into a hole, wished there had been time to explain. When he opened his mouth to talk Chuck came in and all conversations died. Cas glanced at his notecards, swallowing hard. He couldn’t breathe; every moment felt like an eternity, and he felt itchy, his skin too tight over his bones. Charlie kept staring at him, but he just stared at his closed notebook, pen untouched, hands in his lap. When chuck let them go for break, Cas rushed out ahead of everyone else and locked himself in a bathroom stall until was time to go back to class.

After break, Sam, Meg, and Cas shared their presentation. Cas spoke the words the others had prepared for him feeling tired, but the presentation went well. When they sat down he felt heavy with anger. He had helped with a lot of the work, and all they had left his morning was figuring out who would say what, and make it cohesive. There was no real reason for Meg to be as angry as she was. Cas listened to the rest of the presentations, waiting impatiently for class to be over so he could talk to Meg.

Chuck let them out early, and Meg turned to Cas before he could say anything.

“Sorry I was such a jerk before class… It’s not like you didn’t pull your own weight…” She said. “I just hate giving oral presentations.” Cas gaped a little.

“I-I’m sorry too…” He mumbled. “It was just a hard morning, and Meg nodded a little, patted Sam’s shoulder and left. Sam smiled up at Cas a little.

“So, do you have any plans tomorrow night?” Sam asked as Cas put away his notebook.

“Just a date with FBI Agents Mulder and Scully, but I can be flexible… Why?” He asked adjusting his bangs a little.

“My brother, Dean, and I are having some people over for a barbeque. You can bring your brother and your girlfriend if you want…”

“Girlfriend?” Cas asked. “You mean Charlie?” Sam blushed and nodded a little. “Charlies not my girlfriend..” Cas laughed a little and Sam blushed harder.

“That’s good- I mean- I mean-” He blushed even deeper. “I mean, she can still come. Meg’s coming, I think,” he finished quickly and Cas giggled a little.

“What time and should I bring anything?”

“Whatever you like to drink and maybe a pie? Or fruit salad? But if you bring fruit salad you have to lie and say it is your favorite thing in the world or else my brother will tease me for wanting fruit salad at a barbecue…” Cas giggled a little.

“What kind of pie?”

“Literally any kind. My brother loves _all_ kinds of pie…” Sam sad as Charlie popped her head back in the room.

“What’s the hold up? I’m _starving_ and you’re buying me dinner!” She laughed.

“I’ll text you the address tonight,” Sam said and Cas smiled.

“Talk to you later…” Cas got up and made an excited face at Charlie who returned it. They drove to a nearby diner and ordered sodas.

“Did- Did Sam ask you out?” Charlie finally asked as they drank their sodas.

“No. He invited me to a barbecue he and his brother are throwing, but he did say ‘good’ when I told him you weren’t my girlfriend…” Cas said and Charlie smiled widely.

“Awesome! Right? Right this is awesome?” Charlie asked, and Cas nodded ‘yes’ vigorously. They squeed together, laughing as people turned to stare.

***

The next evening, Cas put on a long flowy flowery skirt, a soft t-shirt, and her favorite pink flats. She had spent a few hours earlier making fruit salad. While at the store she considered making a pie until she remembered she often burned rice and just picked one up from the bakery section. She did her hair, painted her nails blue, and waited impatiently for Charlie. Gabriel decided he’d rather hang out with some of this other friends, but Cas couldn’t really blame him as he was in grad school and Cas assumed everyone at the barbecue would be in undergrad. Once Cas was in grad school she was sure she wouldn’t want to hang out with a bunch of undergrads either.

The party started at seven, so of course Charlie didn’t even show up to pick up Cas until nearly 7:15, the whole time assuring Cas it was better to show up late because that showed she wasn’t _over eager_ , whatever that meant. As soon as Cas got in the car, Charlie pulled out her phone and pulled Cas close so they could take a selfie together and Charlie put it on Instagram before putting Sam’s address into her phone, letting Google Maps guide the way.

By the time they got to the party, the first round of burgers were already being distributed. Sam hugged them both as Cas held out the food parcels, and Charlie waved the six pack she brought.

Charlie disappeared rather quickly when she saw some other friends, but Cas knew she would keep an eye on her. Cas let Sam drag her around the party introducing her to various people and family members, correct people when they used the wrong pronouns. He made sure Cas had plenty to eat and drink. Between everything Cas was convinced that she wouldn’t remember a single name the next morning, but she didn’t care because she was just so happy. Charlie _did_ periodically come check on Cas, both of them communicating mostly by laughing at each other.

Eventually Sam wandered off to pee leaving Cas to talk to some people she didn’t know well. It was getting late and she was just starting to think about going home when Sam’s very drunken brother came over to her, beer in each hand.

“I have a bone to pick with you…” He slurred, sloshing beer everywhere, and Cas looked around nervously, but she couldn’t see Charlie.

“Oh? What’s that?” She asked, biting her lip and taking a step back.

“Sam says you’re like non-bi- non- you’re genderfluid and that means you’re trans, right?” Cas blinked and nodded a little. “Well- like- how did you _know_?” Cas bit her lip ring, laughing a little.

“The same as everyone else, I suppose?” She shrugged. Dean blinked a few times, muttered ‘pink’ and ‘Rhonda Hurley’ before looking up again.

“Sam said- He said-” Someone dropped a heavy arm across Cas’s shoulders and she screamed, jumping and turning. She laughed, embarrassed, as she turned and saw Sam.

“Hey, you ok?” He asked as Dean blathered on about something. Cas tried to smile and nod but Sam pulled her inside through the masses of people and out to the front yard. “Did my brother say something?” Cas shook her head, no.

“He just wanted to talk to me about trans stuff, which you know, on some level, I get, but honestly, I just-” Cas rubbed her arms a little, and Sam put a hand on her back, frowned a little and pulled his hand back.

“I’m sorry, is it ok if I touch you?” Sam asked and Cas smiled a little.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” she said as Charlie came out and rushed to her best friend’s side.

“Hey, you doing ok?” Charlie asked, and Cas nodded.

“Yeah, but I’m tired… You ready to go?” She asked, and Charlie nodded, yes.

“Do you want me to go get your bowl?” Sam asked, smiling and letter his arm drop.

“Uh, sure…” Cas said and Sam took off.

“Did you have fun?” Charlie asked and Cas nodded.

“It has been a truly wonderful night…” She said.

“I’ll go wait in the car…” Charlie said and kissed Cas’s cheek before rushing off. Sam returned a few minutes later with a wet but empty bowl.

“Thank you for coming,” Sam said, smiling as Cas took the bowl.

“Thank you very much for inviting me,” she murmured brightlight, taking the bowl she bit her lip a little, got on her tippy toes, kissed Sam briefly on the mouth and rushed to leave but Sam caught her hand, pulling her back. She blushed and giggled. “Charlie-”

“May I kiss you?” Sam asked. She was still far enough away, she could say no, leave, and be done for the night. She didn’t think Sam would mind at all.

But she really wanted Sam to kiss her so she nodded and whispered, “Yes.”

Sam pulled her closer, cupped her face in his large, warm hands and kissed her gently, lingering for a moment before he let her go, smiling.

“Call me?” She managed as she took a step back a little shakily Sam nodded, grinning.

“Tomorrow?” She nodded and nearly ran into the mailbox, laughing.

“Call me tomorrow…” She turned and ran to Charlie’s parked car, giggling the whole way.

Charlie and Cas went to Burger King where they got milkshakes and went back to Cas’s where they curled up on Cas’s couch watching _Friends_ on Netflix.

“I can’t believe you kissed him!” Charlie said for the millionth time.

“I can’t believe he kissed me back!” Cas said slurping down the last of her milkshake.

“Who kissed you?” Gabriel asked as he came downstairs to get something from the kitchen.

“Sam Winchester!” Charlie called into the kitchen and Gabriel laughed.

“Better than his brother…” He called back and Cas giggled nodding in agreement.

***

The next day, Sam texted just after twelve.

**Received: Good morning. Sleep well?**  
**Sent: Good afternoon. Slept pretty good. Charlie stayed over. We watched Friends.**  
**Received: Fun. :)**

Cas wasn’t sure how to respond to that so they got up and went to take a shower, leaving Charlie passed out in a tangle of blankets on the floor. By the time Cas got out of the shower, they had another message from Sam.

**Received: I am seriously hung over. Last night was fun though. :)**

Cas laughed and started to reply but Sam sent another message.

**Received: Also, my brother wants me to apologize for whatever he said last night? He didn’t mean to offend you?**  
**Sent: Last night was fun, and tell Dean it’s fine. I get it all the time.**

Cas pulled on some clothes, not putting much thought into their outfit for once.

**Received: He won’t tell me what he said… should I be worried? Angry?**  
**Sent: Nah, it’s fine. For real.**  
**Sent: And a good cure for hangovers is coconut water.**  
**Received: Really?**  
**Sent: Yeah! It’s a true life saver…**

Cas came down the stairs as Charlie groaned from the floor.

“Cas, I want coffee…”

“We’re out…” Cas stated checking their phone. “We can go to Starbucks though,” Cas offered. Charlie groaned again and Cas got up to see if they had any coconut water.

**Received:I made Dean go get me some. So not ready to move.**  
**Sent: Charlie is in the same boat. I’m feeling pretty good, honestly. Already showered and dressed. :)**

“We don’t have any coconut water either…” Cas called and Charlie moaned.

“Let’s go to the diner… I want bacon…” Charlie mumbled as she got up and banged her way to the bathroom.

**Received: She has my sympathy. :(**  
**Received: Are you doing anything this evening?**  
**Sent: Not so far as I know. Charlie and I sometimes hang out Saturday nights, but since we hung out last night, she will probably just want to go home and RP with her friends.**

Charlie came out of the bathroom looking slightly more together.

“Where are my pants?” She asked getting to her knees. Cas picked them up from the back of the couch and threw them at her.

**Received: Have you seen Age of Ultron? Do you like Marvel?**

Cas laughed, flopping on the love seat.

**Sent: I have and I do. Normally I wouldn’t mind going to see it again, but I’ve seen it like 12 times, and I HATE the Nat/Bruce storyline.**  
**Received: Oh. Haha. I’ve seen it too, but… Is there something else you’d like to see?**  
**Sent: TBH, not really. Why don’t we go mini golfing instead?**  
**Received: I could be persuaded. I’m gonna go back to sleep for a bit. Text you soon. :)**  
**Sent: Sleep well. :)**

Charlie stood up and stumbled to the door.

“Oh gawd the light…” She groaned, opening the door.

Breakfast went by quickly and Charlie dropped Cas off on her way home. Cas spent the next few hours reading for class and watching _The X-Files_. Sam texted them back close to four.

**Received: That coconut water trick was AMAZING! Thank you!**  
**Sent: NP!**  
**Received: How about I come pick you up at 5:30? We could go get some sushi and then go mini golfing?**  
**Sent: Oooh sushi! Sounds great!**

They texted Sam their address and went upstairs to find some better clothes. In the end they decided on some short shorts that showed off their legs, and a soft Captain America tank top with their favorite plain black flipflops. They sat curled up in the recliner watching _The X-Files_ until Sam came to get them.

He rang the bell and smiled widely when he saw Cas.

“You look wonderful…” He said and pulled some daisies from behind his back. Cas practically levitated and kissed Sam’s cheek as they took them. Sam was wearing nice jeans, a soft blue t-shirt, and a flannel with the sleeves rolled up.

“Oh my gosh! You didn’t have to do this! Thank you so much! Come in, come in.” They went to the kitchen, Sam following close behind. Cas got down a vase and filled it with water, then tugged the daisies out of the plastic.

“I wasn’t sure if you liked daisies, if you liked flowers even…”

“Are you kidding? I _love_ flowers. Daisies are so… They are so sweet! I love them!” They threw away the excess plastic and put the flowers in the middle of the table. They smiled at Sam again, pulling him close and kissing him chastely before grinning wider and dragging him out front to find a black ‘67 Impala.

“It’s my brother’s,” Sam said. They both got in the car and Sam started the car, the engine coming alive with a low rumble that sent a small shiver down Cas’s spine. Sam pulled out of the driveway and looked at Cas.

“Can I hold your hand?” he asked and Cas smiled, nodding a little. Sam took Cas’s hand, and their hand lingered in the weird neutral middle space. The radio played softly, and Cas couldn’t remember the last time they felt like this on a date, if they ever felt like this on a date.

They went to dinner first and ordered sake and a bunch of different rolls while sitting side by side in a booth holding hands and eating edamame while they waited for their sushi.

“What’s your favorite…” Cas started after a moment, biting his lip. “What is your favorite TV show?”

“Favorite TV show? Oh… Uh… I don’t- I really like a lot of different shows, but favorite?” He bit his lip a little. “So, there is this crappy low budget 90s buddy cop show called _due South_ that I watch a lot…” He blushed a little.

“That sounds interesting! I like trash shows like _Teen Wolf_ and _The Walking Dead_...” Cas said as the waiter brought them more sake and edamame.

“ _Teen Wolf_? Like from the 80s?” Sam asked, and Cas gaped a little.

“ _You’ve never watched Teen Wolf_?!” Cas asked incredulously. Sam giggled a little, shaking his head, no, as the waiter gave them their sushi rolls. “Ok. You tell me about this buddy cop show, and we’ll watch some of that if you watch some _Teen Wolf_!”

“Sounds good. _Due South_ is just a ridiculous little show about a Canadian mountie, his deaf wolf, and the mountie’s police partner from Chicago…” Cas blinked at him for a minute.

“What?” Sam laughed a little.

“You just have to watch it; it’s easier to understand if you watch it…” Sam said as he shoved a giant piece of sushi in his mouth. Cas laughed a little as they picked up a piece and dipped it in some soy sauce.

“What’s your favorite book?” Sam asked.

“Oh gawd! You want me to pick one?” Cas groaned. “Give me a minute.” They ate a couple more bites of sushi. “I can’t. I really love anything by Francesca Lia Block, the Harry Potter books, _A Single Man_ , _Jane Eyre_ , uh… I have also read an embarrassing amount of Michael Crichton… I can’t believe you want me to pick one. You pick one!” They laughed a little.

“I have read quite a lot of Stephen King…” Sam said. “And I love Harry Potter.”

“Stephen King is great,” Cas agreed. They spent all of dinner talking about favorites, and all of minigolf talking about things they hated. Sam absolutely creamed Cas at minigolf but they didn’t really care because when Sam made a hole in one at the last hole, he gave the giant ass bear to Cas and kissed their cheek gently. Cas beamed at him, taking his hand as they walked back to the car in silence.

They went back to Cas’s in silence, holding hands and humming along to the radio when a song they recognized came on. When they pulled up in front of Cas’s house, neither of them moved or spoke for a few minutes. Eventually Sam cleared his throat and turned off the Impala.

“I had a really good time tonight…” He said squeezing Cas’s hand and released it, wiping his sweaty palm on his pants leg.

“I did too…” Cas smiled at him, legs twitching a little. Sam bit his lip and turned to Cas.

“I- I’m- I like you a lot… And I- This has been nice.” He stared at a hole in his pants.

“Are you ok?” Cas asked, biting their lip ring a little.

“Yeah, I just… I’m ace,” he managed, looking up, smiling a little, then frowning. Cas smiled and took one of Sam’s shaky hands, squeezing it tight.

“That’s ok! Most days I’m way too dysphoric to think about sex with anyone else,” Cas said and Sam looked up, shocked.

“Really?” He breathed.

“Really…” Cas nodded and Sam gaped a little, and then smiled.

“That’s- That’s great! Well, not the dysphoria part, but- I mean-” Cas giggled a little.

“I know what you mean…” They smiled again.

“Here, I’ll walk you to your door…” They got out and held hands up to the porch.

“I had a really good time tonight…” Cas said as they looked up at Sam.

“Me too… I hope we can do it again sometime…” He said, and Cas nodded a little, brushing some hair behind their ear.

“Can I kiss you?” Sam asked, and Cas nodded a little.

“Yes, please…” They said and Sam gently cupped Cas’s chin, and pulled them close, kissing them. Cas wrapped their arms around Sam’s broad shoulders. They kissed for several minutes until Gabriel came out with a bag of garbage to take to the trash wearing nothing but a pair of dinosaur boxer shorts.

“Whoops!” He said as Cas and Sam bolted apart, laughing and blushing. “Don’t mind me… Just-” He held up the bag of garbage and dashed through them. Cas smiled after Gabriel disappeared around the corner of the house.

“Brothers are so overrated,” they said as Sam nodded, laughing.

“Agreed!” Sam whispered. “Good night…” He turned to leave.

“Night!” Cas called after him. “Text me!” Gabriel came back from the trash.

“Yeah! Text them! Or else!” Gabriel yelled and Cas flushed crimson as Sam laughed, getting back in the Impala.

“Ignore him!” Cas yelled at Sam who drove away with a wave.

Twenty minutes later Cas’s phone lit up and they talked to Sam all night long.

**Author's Note:**

> So far as the scene where Cas is having a guy day but wants to wear a dress is loosely based off the days I want to wear dresses and skirts but still be seen as more masculine and yeah.
> 
> If you ever want to talk about this sort of thing come talk to me on [tumblr](http://www.acescerek.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
